Structural archaeologist Geoff Carter's radical view of building in the ancient world, especially the archaeology of the lost timber built environment of Southern England. It is new research into of prehistory of architecture, available in a series of articles that are designed to be read in order, and to be accessible to the non-specialist - and there is even some humour

30 December, 2010

Since I was the first to identify Felix's WOGE 107 as Darabgerd, a Sassanid era centre in Iran, it falls to me set this puzzle.

So this is the challenge, be the first to correctly identify the site below and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!

Felix has raised the issue of handicapping previous winners; for my part, I have been the first to WOGE 102/103/106, but, with the broader interests of the competition in mind, I have declined to take the prize.

The rules:

Q: What is When on Google Earth?

A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!

Q: How do you play it?

A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.

Q: Who wins?

A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.

Q: What does the winner get?

A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!

San Andrésis a pre-Hispanic site of El Salvador, whose occupation began around the year 900 BC as an agricultural town. This early establishment was vacated by the year 250 because of the enormous eruption of the caldera of Lago Ilopango, and was occupied again in the 5th Century, along with many other sites in the valley of Zapotitán. Between 600 and 900 AD, San Andrés was the capital of a Mayan lordship with supremacy over the other establishments of Vale de Zapotitán.

@Geoff. Sure the last WOGE was not that difficult, but we got a newbie on the boat. I think we should invest a couple of weeks in attracting new players, before we increase the general level of difficulty again. In Return you get more competition. With the next WOGE, I may have to host, I am going to post your remote area low scale you can chew on.

Hi Felix,When it falls to me to set the competition, the scale is chosen so that the archaeology site can be seen in sufficient detail to be identified, and is therefore dependent on the type of archaeology.The archaeological blogging community probably has a basis towards Classical and the Near East. I seek to encourage players by choosing sites from a range of different periods and countries.

This is why I chose a mesoamerican site this time, and a site in India before that.

The competition is different from "Where on Google Earth" in having a bias towards archaeological sites, and this does put archaeologists at an advantage, which is clearly unfair.

In accordance with your wishes I will refrain from playing further this year.